Phänomenologie der digitalen Welt

Sommerschule der Deutschen Gesellschaft für phänomenologische Forschung

Repository | Series | Buch | Kapitel

206008

The concept of tri-guna

a working model

Maika Puta Peter Sedlmeier

pp. 317-364

Abstrakt

This literature review presents an overview of an ancient Indian personality system that shows promise for playing an important role in the applied research on well-being and spirituality: the concept of tri-guna. The core proposition of this concept is that the psyche consists of three energies ("gunas") called sattva, rajas and tamas. They are said to be present in everyone in different degrees, explaining differences not only in behavior but also in well-being and spirituality. It is assumed that a dominance of sattva is favorable for well-being. In the first part of this chapter, we provide a summary of indicators for the three gunas, extracted from the available literature, and present empirical findings. The indicators are given separately for cognition, emotion, motivation, social and physical factors, the environment and behavior in general. In the second part we discuss interventions that are claimed to increase sattva and thereby further well-being. This review can be used as a theoretical basis for a more systematic empirical examination of the concept.

Publication details

Published in:

Schmidt Stefan, Walach Harald (2014) Meditation: neuroscientific approaches and philosophical implications. Dordrecht, Springer.

Seiten: 317-364

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-01634-4_18

Referenz:

Puta Maika, Sedlmeier Peter (2014) „The concept of tri-guna: a working model“, In: S. Schmidt & H. Walach (eds.), Meditation, Dordrecht, Springer, 317–364.